Taking their collaborative work to a whole new level, INSA (Juxtapoz #96) and designer Ben Rousseau have recently returned from 3 weeks in the arctic circle, where they were invited to create one of the artist suites in the legendary Ice Hotel in Sweden.
In a continuation of their shared love of high heel aesthetics, the room's main feature is two huge snow legs descending from the ceiling, wearing a pair of gigantic ice heels. Sexy.
Each heel, at over six feet high and two tons in weight, was hand-carved from pure natural ice harvested from the Torne River.
Between the legs is the bed, crowned by an ecclesiastical arched window featuring an engraving of one of INSA's signature line patterns.
The rest of the room resembles something between a house of worship, gallery, or boutique with more iconic arches housing smaller heel sculptures and other symbols of commercial wealth.
In temperatures as low as minus 35 degrees and taking just under 3 weeks to complete, this suite, along with the other amazing rooms at the Ice Hotel, is now open for guests to check out. Bring your jackets or a really, really hot date to check out the frosty room; or just take a peek at more photos the pair passed our way here…

Our homeboy Alex Pardee (Juxtapoz cover #79) recently allowed us to come crash his studio and get a sneak peek at his newest work (one of our favorite pieces is shown below) for his upcoming solo show at FIFTY24SF Gallery, affectionately titled Letters From Digested Children, which opens this Thursday, January 8, 2009.
Not only is Alex extremely talented and intelligent, but he’s also super nice and down to earth. Just our kind of artist! We made our way from our hometown of San Francisco over to his studio and Zerofriends art collective compound in Novato, California, which is about 30 minutes north of SF. Upon entering his studio, we were immediately greeted by typical Alex goodness: crazy masks, huge murals, colorful paintings, and oh yeah, the artist himself.
Do join us on a journey through the world and mind of Alex Pardee in our studio visit with him over this way…

Anything miniature is always better than its normal-sized counterpart. Take, for example, these mini retro synthesizers by Australian illustrator and designer Dan McPharlin. Not only are they tiny, but they’re retro, and shockingly accurate.
Created entirely of paper and cardboard, they kind of remind us of when we attempted to fashion an entire dollhouse, complete with furniture, out of index cards because a parent (who shall remain nameless) refused to purchase us a real dollhouse. Yeah, tough (yet creative) times.
Uhh anyways, we’ll give Mr McParlin a bit more credit, as his mini synthesizers feature insane detailing, right down to the switches, knobs and wires all part of the life-sized equipment. As an old, and very brief, college roommate used to say (who shall also remain nameless), that's "just precious."
See more mini retro synthesizers, and other goodness, now at danmcpharlin.com

The Seventh Letter (Juxtapoz #78) was definitely well represented at this year’s Art Basel, as Revok, Reyes, Saber, Krush, Augor, Retna, and Mac all got some sick work up on the walls of Miami.
One of our favorites is this piece by Augor. This guy’s style just keeps getting better and better. As if his illegal billboard ad-busting work wasn’t dope enough, it’s insane to see what this cat can accomplish given more time and an environment free of the fear of arrest to really show off what he can do with aerosol.

São Paulo, Brazil is known as one of the roughest and most vibrant cities in the world, and it’s reputation as a global epicenter for some of the most up and coming artists grows daily.
To prove it, take a look at this insane video Retna posted on his blog of local Brazilian graf kids covering massive buildings in pixação, a type of graffiti lettering native to São Paulo.
Scaling ledges stories above city streets as onlookers gape in awe? Damn, these guys don’t mess around.

Mr. Jeremy Fish (Juxtapoz cover #71) calls San Francisco home, so it makes sense that this 'City by the Bay' should serve as the inspiration for his newest (and arguably most exciting to date) exhibit, Ghosts of the Barbary Coast, opening next Thursday, December 4, at Fifty24SF Gallery.
Juxtapoz caught up with Fish at his studio in San Francisco's North Beach, a neighborhood steeped in both diverse history and energy. After an almost 5-hour visit and talk about the rich SF history that spurred the creation of Fish's newest collection, we came away with not only a new appreciation for the city that both Juxtapoz and the artist call home, but also for Fish's incredible new work.
The paintings, sculpture, and installation work that Fish completed for Ghosts of the Barbary Coast truly takes a bold step away from past work by the artist...and we like it. Complete with sculptures carved in Indonesia and paintings inspired by the harlequin days of old-school San Francisco, it's safe to say that Jeremy Fish has truly stepped it up (another) notch in Ghosts of the Barbary Coast.

Don’t you find Dubai intriguing? C’mon, it’s an ancient city in the Middle East known for its insane real estate prices, some of the world’s tallest buildings, massive oil production, and the most expensive hotel on earth. Now you can add dope murals to that list.
American art collective Albus Cavus recently went over to the marvelous city of Dubai to paint with local artists, including Diya Ajit. Together, Ajit and Albus Cavus collaborated to make a mural at The Jam Jar.
Time Out Dubai took some to time to ask Ajit a few questions about street art in Dubai.

Stephen Tompkins is a philosopher turned artist, so you can bet his work can get pretty deep.
“My biggest disappointment these days is wishing there was more philosophy in art, more will to debate concepts of art, the sublime,” he says in a recent interview with Juxtapoz contributing writer, Brad Martin.
“Pretty soon, from the insane proliferation of instant digital culture and the dissipation of low and high art, there’s going to be a rapid decline in traditional approaches and more synthesis of multi-sense installation, even galleries will lean towards user experience, perhaps even interactive art on some levels,” the artist predicts.
Read what else this artist has to say (we promise it’s not all theoretical!) in the full interview here.

You may know artist Amandalynn from her involvement with The Seventh Letter, or perhaps from her recent solo show move A head at Carmichael Gallery in Los Angeles (exhibit work shown below,) or even her insane custom car paintwork for Underground Colors. Or what about her sculpture restoration projects for the MoMA? (Her recent dinosaur restoration shown above.) Oh, and we almost forgot about her new line of hats and accessories for Goorin Bros’ 1333 Minna line. If nothing else, we hope you’ve gotten to catch a few of her signature green-skinned ladies on the streets of San Francisco.
If it seems hard to define this multi-talented artist, that’s because it is. Crossing genres, age groups, interests, and mediums, Amandalynn is a lady with drive, talent, and the rare ability to co-mingle the two to consistently push boundaries and shatter expectations. Amandalynn recently allowed us to stop by her studio (actually, make that three studio spaces) in San Francisco.

The insanely talented minds behind Blackbook Stencils (Andrew Black and BooksIIII) just released this Dirty Rat Mask for all of you Mickey Mouse or err… dirty rat lovers out there.
In case you’re not familiar with Blackbook Stencils, they create some of the dopest laser etched artistry we’ve seen. This limited edition mask is etched on 10” x 11” matboard, signed and numbered, and comes complete with elastic string for all those who really want to sport this dirty rat look on Halloween, or anytime for that mater.
More at blackbookstencils.com/blogface